Wanderings with Werewolves in St Mungo's
by Cinnamon3
Summary: **OotP SPOILERS** Remus visiting in St. Mungo's


Wanderings with Werewolves by Corrie Phillips, a.k.a. Allgreenthumbs, Cinnamon  
Remus in St. Mungo's during Molly and Arthur Weasley's argument.   
_Characters:_ Remus Lupin - _Genres:_ General - _Rating:_ G  - _Warnings: _ SPOILERS - _Chapters:_ 1  


Wanderings with Werewolves in St. Mungo's 

He'd been in this ward once before, but as a patient when he was a small boy…  Hung on the paneled oak wall was the same portrait of the glaring wizard that had done nothing to soothe his fears as he listened to the people talking about him in very audible though hushed whispers. _ Werewolf_, he heard, w_erewolf_, and knew they were talking about him, saw the fear in their eyes and smelled it too, even when they tried to hide it behind falsely bright smiles.

            Once again he heard the whispers but he wasn't a patient this time, they couldn't be talking about him, could they?  How would they know?  He allowed his gaze to flicker to the pair of nurses conversing quietly near the door, then turning back to Arthur as if he'd been merely distracted.  They hadn't been looking at him, they'd been gesturing at a patient's chart one of them held.  He glanced at the two other occupied beds, one was missing its chart, and the blonde nurse was now gesturing at the large man who lay on the bed opposite Arthur's with his feet almost hanging off the end of the mattress.  Listening more to the nurses than Molly's voice, steadily gaining volume, he learned the man's name.

            "_stitches,_ Molly, and they work very well on – on muggle wounds—"

            Molly didn't like the sound of that at all, and her furious shriek hit an octave that made his sensitive ears hurt.  So occupied was she in berating her husband that she never noticed Remus stroll quietly away, across the aisle.

            Bones, Samuel, watched him approach, faint surprise showing in eyes that had not yet learned to disguise their true feelings.

            "Samuel?"  He asked, receiving a nod in reply.

            "Remus."  He introduced himself, holding out his right hand in greeting.  Samuel dragged his own bandaged limb from under starched white sheets and grasped it, his grip firm for an invalid.

            At first when he spoke, his voice was a little raspy from disuse, but quickly cleared, first tenor, maybe second.

            "Did you hear them talking about me?" he asked, indicating the two lime-green figures by the door.

            "I did."  Remus answered, "They don't know we can hear them."

            "We?"  Samuel's sharp gaze flew to the nurses and back to Remus, watching him intently.

            "I was bitten when I was a very small boy."  The sharp eyes took in his shabby clothes and the face he knew was old before its time.

            "Your friend there told me he knew someone who finds 'the condition' quite easy to manage."  Remus winced.  Arthur meant well, but _easy_?  "That was you, was it?"

            It cost him a lot, but he felt Samuel needed the truth, rather than find out the hard way.  "Arthur has never seen me right after the full moon.  He does not know what it really entails."

            Both were silent for a minute, Remus waiting, watching Samuel come to a decision.  "Nor do I, really.  They," he gestured again at the nurses, "don't seem to know much.  A lot of the stuff they're spouting sounds like old wives tales.  I've asked for books, but…" Following his glare to the bedside table, he read the spines of the books stacked there.  _Dark Creatures:  Identification and Destruction, How to Protect You and Yours from Werewolves, Wanderings with Werewolves…_

            "_Wanderings with Werewolves_?"  I'm really surprised that one's on their shelves.  Lockhart's a patient here, in the _mental ward._"

            Samuel laughed, having decided to trust Remus, he relaxed.  "They say he wrote that when he was still sane."

            "If he ever was."  Remus muttered, but Samuel grinned; he'd heard.  "I looked through it once, it's a load of dragon dung."

            "Will you tell me?"  Samuel asked suddenly, but Remus had been waiting for it.

            "What?  Dragon dung?"

            "Na…"

            "All right."  Sober now, Remus asked, "What do you want to know?"

            Samuel furrowed his brow; there was so much he didn't know.  "What happens on the full moon?"


End file.
